


Forced Perspective

by Sylphidine_Gallimaufry



Series: Tales of Nightmare Dork University [4]
Category: Guardians of Childhood & Related Fandoms, Nightmare Dork University - Fandom, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Class Issues, Dysfunctional Family, M/M, NDU - Freeform, Nightmare Dork University, Nightmare Galleon, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, happy hellidays
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2018-11-05 06:11:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11007621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylphidine_Gallimaufry/pseuds/Sylphidine_Gallimaufry
Summary: Seeing your family through your significant other's eyes can make you run the gamut of a LOT of emotions.  Pitch Black and his very privileged family, Coz Pitchiner and his down-to-earth family, and a sequence of weekend and school break visits.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [miraeyeteeth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/miraeyeteeth/gifts), [KS_Claw](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KS_Claw/gifts).



> This is the first story in an ongoing series that came about due to some Tumblr askmemes, all touching on the prompt of having characters apologize to one another. The NDU pairing of the combative lovers Pitch Black and Cossimo "Coz" Pitchiner have never had an easy time expressing feelings, so "sorry" is going to be a challenge for me to write for them and and have them remain "in character".
> 
> I love a challenge.
> 
> The series has taken on a life of its own, with a huge notes file full of original characters and reference photos. Don't you just love when an AU begets multiple AUs?

Pitch braced himself for Pitchiner to come out of the guest room attired in one of his awful over-the-top, garishly sequined and hideously embroidered holiday sweatshirts.  What he saw instead astonished him.

Coz was neatly put together in black slacks and a crimson cashmere pullover, worn over a starched and collared white dress shirt.  No tie, of course, and loafers on his feet instead of dress shoes, but one couldn’t have everything.  It still was an impressive effort to fit in among the Family Black at their annual “pre-Yuletide” gathering, the first weekend of December.

Pitch flailed his hands about in a mix of incredulity and admiration.  “How… how did this transformation come about?” he demanded waspishly.

His almost-unrecognizable… boyfriend?… raised a hand to his neatly-combed hair.  “My grandparents like to see me dressed up, so I figured your folks might, too.”

“You mean the same grandmother who thinks a cable-knit jumper with a light-up Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer embedded in it is high fashion?”

Pitch regretted his words the minute he saw Pitchiner’s reaction to them.  Hurt, anger, and…shame?… crossed Coz’s features in rapid succession before his face became entirely impassive.  The smaller man felt a wave of his own shame wash over him, because the grandmother in question had never been anything other than kind to him.  Whenever Pitchiner was on the phone with “Mama Michelina”, she always insisted on saying hello to Pitch, always asked him whether he was eating properly, and always closed out the conversation with an injunction to give “her Cossimo” a kiss from her and to take one for himself.

Half of Pitch was embarrassed by her excessive effusiveness.  Half of him warmed to her attention and acceptance.

He reached out now and awkwardly put a hand on Coz’ arm.  “I’m sorry.  That was uncalled for.  You look good.”  He lowered the timbre of his voice and purred, “Good enough to unwrap under the tree.”

An uncharacteristically shy smile crept onto Pitchiner’s face at that.  “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, dear.”

“Later, then.  For now, shall we face the throng?”


	2. Chapter 2

Pitchiner wasn't sure how he would manage to survive for three days in this house of horrors.

He supposed everyone in relationships had to leap hurdles over those big “firsts”.  And this one was a doozy…. the first [pseudo]holiday gathering with Pitch’s parents and relatives, three weeks before the end of the semester.

He had a far clearer picture now of some of the forces that had shaped Pitch’s and Piki’s personalities.  Coz had known on an intellectual level that their family was loaded, but the reality was still a shock.

The driveway alone was _half a mile long_ , for fuck’s sake.  Half a mile to get to the house, winding through grounds that had a tennis court and stables and a flipping gazebo….

After the buildup of the driveway, the house itself was almost a letdown.  Pitchiner had expected a freaking castle. Instead, it had a wraparound porch with stone pillars, four chimneys, attic windows under gables that almost looked like eyes, and extended back into woods further than he could see.  Intimidating, but still conceivable that it could have been built by working joes like his own dad.

Inside it was all gleaming hardwood floors and thick rugs and satiny wallpaper with fuzzy velvet stripes and a hallway full of closed doors and a carved wooden staircase to the upper level decorated with fir garlands and twinkling white lights.  The kitchen was nowhere in sight or smell, as opposed to Pitchiner’s family home where the kitchen was literally the center of the house.

And the parents?

Mr. Black reminded Pitchiner of a line from SWEENEY TODD, the _one_ theatre musical that _hadn’t_ put him to sleep.  Pitch’s father totally owned that "often laughed, but seldom smiled" thing.  It was the kind of laugh that fooled you into thinking he wanted you to buddy around with him, but was really a putdown.  Coz had heard that laugh enough times from one or two of his lacrosse teammates who thought they were better than everyone else because _they_ weren’t at NDU on scholarships.

Mrs. Black, on the other hand, was always smiling, but it was a brittle, prissy, thin-lipped little cat-smile that didn’t show a hint of teeth and didn’t reach her eyes.  Pitchiner realized with a shock that he’d seen that smile before… on Piki.  At least in the early days of getting to know Pitch’s twin, before Piki had fallen hard for Jack.

Piki himself had arrived the night before, and was actually courteous as he showed Coz to a guest room bigger than the living room back at the dorm.  A silent older man followed them up the staircase with Pitchiner's duffle bag in hand.  Pitchiner wondered whether he was supposed to give him a tip, but settled for a smile at the old guy instead.  He was rewarded with a genuine grin as the gent put his bag on a rack near the door and departed.

Pitch had disappeared into another part of the house after introducing Coz to his parents.  Piki paused on the guest room threshold before saying, "Cocktails at seven, dinner at eight.  Nothing too elaborate tonight, just a few of the extended family.  Tomorrow night will be a much bigger squeeze."  The slender man looked as though he might want to say more, but thought better of it and left Coz to unpack his things.  

The sheer QUIET in this house was unnerving.

 


End file.
